


Comfort

by misslucy21



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Gen, Nile Freeman Week, Sickfic, the hell year 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26504581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misslucy21/pseuds/misslucy21
Summary: "I didn't even know we could stillgetsick.""We're immortal, not invincible, unfortunately"
Relationships: Nile Freeman & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani
Comments: 2
Kudos: 111





	Comfort

The coronavirus hit fast and _hard_. Nicky had gone down with it last week. She had been about 12 hours behind Nicky, and Joe had been left to take care of them both. Nile had never been so sick in her life. 

The fever had been the worst and there were two days that were mostly just a blur of confusion and tears. One of the only clear memories she had was crying on Joe’s shoulder because she wanted her mother more than she ever had before. He’d told her he knew, he wished she could have her mother too, but he had her and she was safe and he loved her and it would be much better in the morning. He _promised_. He’d been right- her fever had broken and she was limp and exhausted, but much better the next day. 

Joe’s immune system had managed to hold out until both she and Nicky had been mostly recovered for a couple days, but the tradeoff had been that he’d been sicker than either of them with an awful cough and wheeze along with the terrible fever. 

She was curled up on the couch watching Brooklyn 99 when Joe stumbled out of the bedroom and toward the couch. 

“Hey, look who’s up!”, she said, grinning up at him. 

He waved tiredly and tried to smile as he flopped down next to her feet. 

“You sound like you’re breathing better.”

“Yeah. Doesn’t hurt as much,” he mumbled as he tilted sideways to curl up behind her legs with his head on her knee. She’d learned quickly over the past months that Joe would cuddle with anyone who sat still long enough to let him. She didn’t mind.

“Good”, she said, reaching down to brush his hair back and check his forehead. 

“Hair’s gross,” he warned.

“You’ve dealt with mine when it was worse,” she replied. He was still feverish, but better than it had been at the worst. Looking at a thermometer that said 106.4 had been one of the scariest moments of her immortal life so far. “You want something to eat?”

“Uh-nuh” he shook his head. “Nicky?”

“He went to take Andy some groceries.” She’d reluctantly gone to a hotel the day Nicky had woken up with a headache and a sore throat. But they just hadn’t been sure how sick she could get and still be okay and none of them were interested in finding out. The small benefit of all three of them getting sick was it would probably be safe for her to wait out the rest of this lockdown with them once Joe recovered. 

“Andy’k?”

“Andy is fine. Well, she’s bored out of her skull, but she’s not sick,” Nile said, laughing a little. 

“S’good”

“Yup. You want the painter guy with the trees?” she asked, as the episode she’d been watching finished. 

“Yeah,” he mumbled, nodding against her knee. 

“Painter guy coming up,” she said, flipping over to YouTube and finding an episode of The Joy of Painting they hadn’t watched yet. 

They watched quietly for a few moments before Joe rocketed upwards, coughing and gasping for breath. 

“Whoa, whoa,” Nile said, reaching out to steady him. “You’re okay, it’s okay.” He hacked a few more moments, then managed to pull in a shaky breath. “Easy, there you go.”

Joe nodded, and leaned back against the couch. Nile waited a moment to make sure he was still breathing well and then went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. 

“Here,” she said, handing him the glass. He nodded and drank about half of it before folding forward with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Nile sat down and rubbed his back as he caught his breath. 

“Sorry,” he said, turning his head to look at her.

“No sorry,” she said. “I know about exactly how shitty you feel right now.”

“Hm.” 

“Besides, I am pretty sure I slobbered up at least one of your shirts last week. Probably half the reason you’re sick,” she smiled. “So if anyone should be sorry, it’s me.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he shook his head. 

“You and Nicky share being sick too, I bet,” she replied. “But still.”

“I’d have done it anyhow,” he said. 

She smiled at him. “I know.” She rubbed his back again. “Anything else I can do to make you feel better? I think we still have gelato.”

“Really not hungry,” he sighed, then coughed again. “Damn,” he muttered, rubbing his chest. 

“It’ll be better tomorrow,” she offered. 

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Can we just watch the tree guy?” 

“Of course,” she said. “Here,” she said, grabbing a pillow and arranging it so he could be propped up a bit when he laid back down against her.

“Thanks,” he said.

“No problem,” she said, rubbing his shoulder. “I’ve got you.”


End file.
